The Sacramento State Hockey Club was out-shot on Friday against the College of the Canyons and lost its second straight home game of the season 1 to 4. Both teams were very aggressive by pushing, shoving and tripping the other team. This ended with 12 penalties for the Hornets and 10 for the Cougars.

During the first period both teams advanced the puck out of their zone almost equally, the Cougars were just the ones who succeeded in shooting the puck.

Within in the first four minutes of the first period the Cougars scored a goal and then received a penalty for using the hockey stick to trip junior forward Alex Shaposhnikov. A few minutes later the cougars received another penalty for completely knocking junior forward Justin Ellison, president of the club, off his feet.

The cougars challenged the Hornets again by double teaming senior forward Kevin Bean, who answered back by slamming one of those Cougar players to the ground. Senior forward Chase Turner made a clean hit on Cougar player Kevin Castille and was kicked out of the game because Castille was injured. Castille tried to come back into the game in the second period, but was helped off the rink minutes later bent over in pain. The Cougars ended up scoring after Turner was kicked out of the game.

During the beginning of the second period, the Hornets were continually checking and playing defensively. The Hornets were really close in taking advantage of a power play when at the very end of it sophomore forward Ray Gsell shot the puck while the Cougar’s goalie was down and the puck ended up going over the goal. The Hornets were starting to advance the puck out of their zone more when the Cougars scored another goal.

The penalties started to add up at this point for both teams. A Cougar player collided with team captain senior defenseman Matt Van Atta and ended up in the penalty box. Then the Hornets received penalties on two players leaving only three men and the goalie on the rink. Senior goalie Tim Kesner helped the team survive during this time by blocking many shots.

Coach Tom Bowen finally let freshman forward Scott Vizzusi play when many fans shouted that they wanted him out on the rink. Immediately getting on the rink, Vizzusi stirred things up by pummeling two Cougar players. A Cougar player retaliated by kicking junior defenseman Jake Panattoni while the referees weren’t looking. In the end of the second period the Hornets tried shooting the puck many times, but couldn’t score.

“We were flat in the first two periods, but tried to come back in the third period,” said Ellison.

The third period started with an odd hit made by Cougar Josh Salameh when he hit Bean on the head with his hockey stick and was not called for a penalty. The Hornets got revenge when senior defenseman Brian Hubbert scored with an assist by junior forward Malachi Mahan. After that goal, the Hornets couldn’t keep themselves out of the penalty box and the Cougars scored within the last five minutes of the game.

After the game, the hornets had a team meeting in the locker room that made the team more optimistic, according to Coach Bowen. But, his main concern is to get the players out of the penalty box.

“There were a lot of creative calls made. I can’t argue the calls that the refs make. The most I can do is ask for clarification of the call. Sometimes there were good calls made and sometimes there weren’t,” said Coach Bowen.

Since the cougars had a lot of penalties, the hornets had many chances to take advantage of those power plays. But, they couldn’t get it together, according to the coach.

“We need to start capitalizing on the power plays and be more aggressive,” said Coach Bowen.

The Hornets did play better this game than the last game against the Fresno State Bulldogs who won 9-2 according to Gsell. But, he feels the team got the short end of the stick.

“We thought we were ready for this game,” said Ellison.

Last season the Hornets started off slow too, according to Coach Bowen.

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” said Turner.

The Hornets next game is on the road against the Bulldogs on Oct. 24.

“I have a vendetta against them (Bulldogs) because they lit me up last time. We need to get our defense locked in and use the power plays, so we can stick it to them,” said Kesner

Their next home game is against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at 7:45p.m. on Nov. 1 at the Roseville Skate Town Ice Arena.

Taylor Collis can be reached at [email protected]